A worker at the Ngamia 1 oil rig in Turkana County. Kenya is involved in a row with Somalia over the maritime border, raising concern that the feud may deter multinational oil companies from exploring for oil and gas offshore. Photo/File
Kenya’s bid to map its maritime border with neighbouring Somalia and Tanzania could get a fresh boost this week when elections for a key United Nations body tasked with determining the matter are held.
Kenya has nominated Simon Njuguna to contest for membership of the Commission of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the board that assigns countries exclusive economic zones in water bodies.
A UN document showed that Kenya will battle it out with 24 other countries worldwide for the 21 slots available in the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.
Scramble
The election will be held during a week-long meeting of the States parties in New York which closes on Monday next week.
Only Kenya and Mozambique have nominated candidates from the eastern Africa region.
A victory for the Kenya’s candidate could boost the country’s hopes of mapping out its maritime border amid growing scramble for sea resources including oil, gas, and fish.
“Such international issues are better handled if you have someone in a key position to champion your quest through lobbying,” an official at the Foreign Affairs ministry who requested anonymity said.
Kenya is already involved in a row with Somalia over the maritime border, raising concern that the feud may deter multinational oil companies from exploring for oil and gas offshore.
The two nations disagree over the location of their boundary in the Indian Ocean.
At stake are legal claims to sell rights for exploration and collect revenue from any discovery.
“The issue between Somalia and Kenya is a territorial argument that came after oil and gas companies became interested in the region,” Mr Abdullahi Haji, the Somalia Minister for Foreign Affairs, was quoted as saying.
French firm Total and Texas-based Anadarko are the only two companies so far holding licences from Kenya to blocks in the disputed area. They have no immediate plans to drill there.
Officials at the Energy ministry have maintained that the disputed border with Somalia should run horizontally east from the point at which the two countries touch on land but Somalia wants the onshore border to run diagonally southeast into the ocean.
East Africa has become a hot spot for oil and gas exploration, spurred by new finds in waters off countries including like Tanzania and Mozambique.
In the Horn of Africa, Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions have also licensed exploration blocks.
